User blog:Bbun/Structure of StarClan on this Roleplay
Like most Warriors roleplays, the Clans believe in StarClan, a starry afterlife, as well as the Place of No Stars (better known as the Dark Forest), aka, 'cat hell'. Both factions are considered to be their ancestors, and they worship them. In this roleplay, StarClan is a bit similar to canon, but has MANY interesting tidbits added. What's kept in the canon; *Leaders receive nine lives from their ancestors. *Horrible, irredeemable cats are damned to the Place of No Stars. *StarClan cats can interact with the living so they choose; however it's extremely uncommon. BOUNDARIES: What StarClan can do :StarClan (and to an extent, the Dark Forest) cats are dead, however they have small effects on the living world. However, there are certain things they can and cannot do. :They can: *Visit the living *Grant nine lives *Visit other cats in their dreams *Bring the spirits of dead cats to StarClan *Hand out prophecies to cats :They CANNOT: *Control the weather (they're dead) *Have any magical powers (they're dead) *Harm living cats (Did I say that they're dead? On a side note, this rule may not apply with all Dark Forest cats.) *Come out to every cat (they're special and therefore really appear during special times/serious times) *Impact the environment (again, they're dead) :The Dark Forest cats are more morally corrupt than the StarClan cats. A fluke in the system allows Dark Forest cats to harm the living - something along the lines of still 'sticking' to the previous world and not really 'gone' and them being the worst of the worst are among the guesses of many. :In summary; with the exception of the Dark Forest hurting the living sometimes, StarClan and the Dark Forest, as much as the Clan cats do believe in it, cannot impact their lives or be TOO major. They tend to watch from afar many times, and thus aren't extremely active in cats' lives, generally. Keep that in mind. Unless it's a major plot point, please don't have your StarClan cat be visible to all when visiting someone (like a sibling, family member, etc.) CULTURAL EXPECTATIONS: What the Clans think of StarClan :The Clans have tendencies to have some expectations of StarClan, being as...well, for the lack of a better term, gullible as they are. :They think that their ancestors can control their lives because they set their foundations, and thus are out there guiding them. Even if they aren't blatantly in front of them, they do expect StarClan to help them when they need it most. :They also believe StarClan knows what happens in their lives, since they hand out nine lives, prophecies, and dreams to the chosen. Since they think they know what will happen, the Clans have some hopes of StarClan coming to aid them during those times (referring back to the previous statement.) :tl;dr; The Clans don't have TOO many thoughts on what StarClan can do, other than that they know what will happen. MORAL SPECTRUM; The Sliding Scale of Greys :Generally, those who don't do many morally questionable things tend to get into StarClan. The reason why so many cats get into StarClan is because most cats just live out normal lives, really. :However, there are those who do horrible, vile things, that without a doubt get sent to the Dark Forest. Then there are those whose 'morally questionable' things outweigh their 'good' things, and also get sent there. There's also those who got chased off or left to the Dark Forest, for reasons depending on the situation. Those who break the code too many times? Also get sent there, generally, unless the were minor rule breaks. The "bad" cats are sent off to the Dark Forest to live out the rest of their undead days, until they fade away. :StarClan decides by evaluating all of the actions a cat has made in their life. Generally, most are shown doing nothing horrible, and are sent to StarClan. Those who have done many vile things are sent to the Dark Forest. For those with an equally balanced amount, a vote is held; the majority decides where they go. The same also applies to cats who had forbidden kits; most tend to land in StarClan, though. :The Clans feel that it is right, since that StarClan's what has decided for them, and they can't really question it. However, there's some who'd care to disagree, and thinks that StarClan is unjust and biased towards some who they don't like. The Clan cats are somewhat affected by this as a result, and tend to think about their actions a bit because they must consider if StarClan will count it against them or not. However, there's some who wouldn't care what StarClan would think, bad or not.... :So, in general, StarClan has a decent moral grading scale that's similar to but different from canon StarClan's. A FEW CULTURAL CUSTOMS; The cats' lives affected by StarClan :The Clans, over the years, have developed, used, and considered many ways to venerate and show their varying beliefs in StarClan. :Cats of other beliefs are treated depending on the leader and attitude toward them - this includes atheist/non-believers, agnostics, and cats who believe in other religions. Most are welcomed and accepted into their Clans readily, valued as another warrior, StarClan-worshipping or not. However there could be a few bigoted leaders that would look down upon a cat who doesn't believe in StarClan, and the Clan may be prejudice against them as a result. The two most likely Clans to act like that would be WinterClan and SummerClan, due to their past involvements and ties with StarClan, however it would not be impossible for leaders of the other Clans to act that way, too. In general, those who believe differently are treated just as the same as any other Clan warrior. :Superstition doesn't tend to affect the Clans much in small doses - since they're so used to nonbelievers and the like, it's rare for them to react so strongly to minor superstition. However, major superstition can make the Clans wary and distrusting of others as they're not used to those trying to challenge their beliefs so strongly. :How a StarClan cat gets over their death depends on the cat, actually - some are quickly to accept their deaths, while others are bitter that they're dead, and might still linger in the living world for a few weeks after their death (like 'ghosts') before passing on back to StarClan. A few can hold grudges over those they wanted to outlive, since they wanted to live longer than the other. Some even taunt the other cat once they die because, well, they died. :Check back at this section later for interesting tidbits on the spiritual beliefs on the Clans! To be covered in this section, as it is a work in progress; *How the cats worship/venerate StarClan *The beliefs *Different religious groups *The Clans differences in spiritual beliefs and habits *And more! Feel free to suggest some stuff in the comments, since this is a fun little work in progress =DD Where the Clans think Their Dead Go Credit for some of these goes to Rainlegs :Each Clan is different, and the ways they see where their ancestors go are no exception. :Splashclan believes thinking that the rivers hold the spirits of all of their dead ancestors, and when they dry up they get REALLY worried. Each living cat has a favorite river, and when they die, they join the other cats of that river, to spend eternity as the water they live off of. :In SpringClan, the Sky Tree is said to be where all of the SpringClan ancestors go. Each branch is said to be the spirit of one cat, twigs being kits and apprentices, and when they break, it's said that a warrior has faded. They also think their ancestors live in the flowers that arrive every newleaf. :AutumnClan thinks the dead part of their forest is from a battle the Dark Forest and StarClan had over them. The dead forest area is where the Dark Forest dragged the ac warriors and killed them in attempts to build up their army, and the living area is where StarClan was located. The dying trees inbetween is the battlegrounds where good mixed with evil. :SummerClan believes that the sun itself is all of their ancestors, including their past great leaders, watching over them and bringing them daylight each day. When they go away at night - aka, when the sun sets - it's rumored that it's when the Dark Forest cats begin to watch them, and it encourages Clan cats to try harder in order to 'survive' the malicious cats. Of course, some cats think it's their own Clan's leaders bringing up the sun, too, so there's often religious disputes over it. Nevertheless SummerClan still strongly holds onto their beliefs. :WinterClan believes that their mountain is made up of their ancestors: the more dead cats, the stronger and taller their mountain grows, and the faded cats lift from the top of the mountain and go into the stars. Newly dead cats start at the bottom of the mountain and over time work their way up until they reach the top and then fly off to the sky. TL;DR; THEY'RE DEAD. So deal with it. Category:Blog posts